Street Art: Dem189, When Mechanical Shapes Meet Organic Easiness

DM189 is a French artist who immigrated to Australia to work on his craft. In honor of his show for the Muriel Marasti Art Project we wanted to learn more about him. His work is composed of thinly layered lines of color in contrast with stark, bold shapes. Balancing his sensibility to color and the rawness of street art, DM189 brings softness to his mechanical aesthetic. The visual artist was recently interviewed by Artistik rezo. He explains that the title of his latest exhibit, “Méchanic Animale” (translated “Mechanical Animal”) merges the industrial aspect of his work to softness.

For a long time, I had a tendency to make drawings that were either very rigid, architectural, or very organic, very soft. Today I mix the two.

http://www.dem189.com/

Dm189, like most street artist, is sensitive to architecture and its shapes.

At first, like most graffiti artist, i was inspired by everything that was done in the field. After a while, I looked at the outside. I then came back to what interested me in drawing as a child. I went back to all the comic books I was forbidden to read when I was young but that I would still read, like Moebius.

Moebius – Photo Credit: gatesthecomic.com

Even though Moebius’ artistic universe was clearly set in science fiction (as you can see above,) both artist live in a world of abstraction and surrealism. Other than using a similar color palette, the two work in finesse, thin lines, away from American graffiti and closer to something that is personnel, that embodies french culture and taste. Notice the similarities in their work below: